


What it means

by unfroyharper



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Gen, fab five bonding, ollie is kind of a shit mentor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-08
Updated: 2016-03-08
Packaged: 2018-05-25 11:20:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6193024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unfroyharper/pseuds/unfroyharper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ollie’s off somewhere doing something, leaving Roy to fend for himself and Star City alone. Roy can’t dodge every knife that comes his way in this line of work and he gets himself hurt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What it means

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Very mild mentions of blood and injury.

Of course it was his shoulder. The smuggler couldn’t have ripped a knife through him somewhere that would be  _ possible  _ to bandage on his own, oh no. It was a shallow cut but it was bleeding like hell, it  _ hurt _ even more than that and trying to bend himself in a way that he could even attempt to wrap the bandage around it was pretty damn difficult.

He wondered where Ollie was, what he was doing. Who he was chasing after, or talking to or dirtying sheets with. Wherever he was, Roy was sure it had more life to it then the empty Queen mansion.

The redhead glanced at the phone for the sixteenth time in the past two minutes, then turned his attention back to making sure he didn’t bleed out. 

That done, he found himself over by the phone and dialing the Titans private line before he could help himself. He didn’t know what he would  _ say _ if someone picked up, or even if they didn’t, but he needed to hear a voice that belonged to someone not trying to shoot or stab him. A voice that knew him as more than just  _ Speedy _ .

He caught the answering machine, which was a relief because he got to  _ hear _ his friends without having to think of something to  _ say _ right away. When the beep came, he opened his mouth to speak, but no words came.

Flustered, he hung up without saying anything at all.

Running a hand through his hair and lightly tugging at the strands, he slumped down on the couch again and let the wave of bone-exhaustion wash over him. He was still in his uniform and he hadn’t showered or eaten but he was too tired to care. Yawning wide enough for his jaw to crack, he laid down on the couch, pillowed his head on his good arm and fell into a restless sleep.

Later he would vaguely remember the phone ringing, trying to get up to answer it and being too dizzy to even get off the couch. He’d remember being moved around by someone, stripped of his shirt, his bandages changed. The next time he was fully conscious, however, the first things he realized were sensations. The sound of familiar voices murmuring, close but far away. The feel of a blanket over him, of the tight but not too tight bandages on his shoulder, a cool, wet sensation on his forehead. His eyes sluggishly blinked open as he reached a hand up to touch the washcloth laying over his forehead; he sat up with a confused mumble.

“Oh-- Hey guys, he’s awake!” Roy startled at hearing  _ Wally _ a couple feet to his left. He turned toward the speedster just in time to see Dick, Donna and Garth enter the living room as well. 

“What-- What are you  _ doing _ here?” Didn’t they have better things to do than come all the way to Star City and babysit his dumb ass? 

Donna just smiled, beautiful as ever. “We got your call, but got a little worried when you didn’t say anything. And then you wouldn’t pick up your phone.”

Roy blinked, feeling dumb and young. “Uh, I-- fell asleep.” His head was pounding like a drum and he was sure his stomach was trying out to be the next Robin with all the gymnastics it was doing.

Speaking of Robins, Dick was giving him that ‘mild disapproval’ look. “Why didn’t you ask for help? That was a pretty nasty wound in your shoulder, and you didn’t even realize it was poisoned.”

Well, that explained why it felt like Donna had thrown a car directly at his brain.

It was so not fair asking him questions when he felt drunk on sleep. Had they given him some kind of cure for the poison or something? Maybe it had side-effects...

Oh, Dick was still waiting for an answer.

“I didn’t think it was that bad.” He mumbled, at once insecure and defensive.

The feelings only increased at Dick’s narrow-eyed look. “If you didn’t think it was that bad, why’d you call us? And where’s GA?”

Roy tried hard not to wince and forced neutrality into his voice. “I dunno. Maybe the poison’d already set in by then.”

Like he wanted to admit he’d only called so he could hear the voices of people who knew what he looked like with his mask off.

He probably wasn’t hiding it as well as he wanted, though, because Dick relented with a worried frown and sat down at the other end of the couch. “How long have you been patrolling Star City alone?”

Roy pulled away from the Boy Wonder, his tone going vicious. “Hey, don’t treat me like a kid, Pixie Boots! I can take care of Star by myself, I’m just having an off day! I still got the guy, so it doesn’t matter anyway.”

Now Donna was frowning and the way she took his hands in her own made his cheeks flush with something other than anger. “Of course it matters. You’re hurt and you could have died if we hadn’t come!”

“You were in pretty bad shape when we came in.” Garth piped up from where he still stood in the doorway, looking as awkward and out of place as ever. “It was a good thing Dick had the antidote in his belt.”

Of course he did. The motherfucker probably had the cure for  _ cancer _ in his belt. Right beside the kitchen sink.

“Well, you saved my stupid ass from myself. Congratulations. You can  _ go _ now.” Roy grumped, tugging his hands out of Donna’s and pulling the blanket tighter around himself defensively.

Dick rolled his eyes, Wally looked like he’d punch him if he weren’t already injured, Garth disappeared into the kitchen (either to avoid the confrontation or rehydrate, Roy wasn’t sure) and Donna clucked her tongue at him.

“You could at least thank us, jackass.” Wally crossed his arms over his chest with a glare that Roy returned eagerly. 

Donna smacked the speedster in the back of the head. “He’s injured, Wally, he’s allowed to be a little grumpy.”

“I’m not an  _ invalid _ , Donna!” Roy protested, which of course made Wally rise to Donna’s defense and the shouting between the three of them grew louder and more abrasive until--

“That’s enough!” It was amazing how Dick could make all of them fall silent with two words. Roy reluctantly admitted to himself that that was one of many reasons he was the leader. Even Garth peeked out from the kitchen, glass of water in his hand, to see what Dick had to say.

“Clearly you’re feeling better if you can argue with Wally like that.” Dick gave Roy a little grin that leeched away some of his defensiveness. “If you really want us to go, I can leave you a few more doses of the antidote and we’ll go.  _ Or _ ...”

Four teens tensely waited for what followed as Dick paused, likely for dramatic effect. 

“We can stay, order some pizza and dig into Ollie’s movie collection.” Dick grinned and it sounded so good that Roy couldn’t say no. It was near impossible to make it all the way out to the Titans base with Ollie gone, between needing to take care of the city and simply not having transportation and...

He’d missed them.

“Alright, you can stay, as long as someone else pays for Kid Mouth’s pizzas.” Roy grinned at Wally’s outraged cry, breathing a silent sigh of relief as his friends settled on the couch around him. 

He didn’t have to say he was going crazy with loneliness. He didn’t have to admit to the several long, lonely nights of nothing but him and the scum of Star City. He didn’t have to do anything but sit on the couch, Donna and Dick on either side of him, as Wally and Garth argued over whether it was okay for Wally to order anchovies on his pizzas or not.

Maybe Ollie wasn’t there for him when he should have been, but at least  _ someone _ was this time.


End file.
